iPhone4idiots

I just don’t understand tech companies sometimes. Twitter just updated its iOS App and there are two major problems. The first and biggest is it no longer supports landscape viewing? Why would they remove this feature. I use it all the time. Landscape view makes the tweet stream easier to read in many situations and I used it daily. Removing features that your customers like and are used to is a big mistake. Not Netflix screw up big, but pretty big. The other problem is the bottom tab now labeled Discover. This was where you could quickly look at Top Ten trending topics which is one of the best things about Twitter. It’s how you can see what’s hot right now. As you can see in the photo, the trends are now displayed under Stories. Frankly I don’t care about the Angels, Ice Cube or Eddy Curry. I want to see the Top Ten trends and then pick which interest me. That now takes a swipe down and extra tap to accomplish. Twitter now only displays two trends. Sorry, I don’t count the promoted trend. That’s not what’s in the news, it’s just what’s paid for. Nice job Twitter, I might now offically move to Tweetbot.

I know very few of you use Twitter, but I just had to make a quick post about this. Last Thursday I noticed FEMME FATALE was trending on Twitter. I didn’t think twice about it, but it’s pretty much remained the number 1 trend on Twitter for days. I finally decided to see what it was about and discovered Britney Spears tweeted the cover and name of her upcoming 7th album due to be released in March. On a side note I must admit I find her much more attractive with hair. Now, I realize she has almost 7 million followers on Twitter, but so does Justin Bieber. Back in May, 2010, Twitter changed the formula of its Trending Topics basically so Justin Bieber wouldn’t be trending every hour of every day (and many times in multiple positions). It worked quite well as no pop star has dominated the trends since then. Interestingly, it seems to have a more worldly scope as often there is something trending where almost all the tweets are in non English. I haven’t seen anything trend on Twitter for more than 48 hours since Twitter’s formula change back in May. Even Egypt or Mubarak didn’t trend constantly. That’s what makes this five day run of FEMME FATALE so intriguing. Has Britney cracked the code??

Twitter for iPhone app was released today. I won’t bore you with a review as most of you don’t use Twitter despite my efforts to tell you why you should. Anyway, there are many Twitter apps for the iPhone, but Apple bought Tweetie a month or so ago and Apple’s Twitter app is essentially Tweetie 3.0. If you want a review check out my Tweetie 2 review here as this is basically the same thing with a few minor tweeks. However, the best thing is that its FREE! So now is the perfect time to stick your toe in the Twitter pool. Download the app to give it a try. You don’t have to sign up or sign in to search, browse uders, see trending topics or top tweets. It’s a great way to get a feel for Twitter. To get Twitter just launch the app store and tap on Top 25 Free apps. It’s been climbing all day is currently number 7 (it was number 10 when I started this article) and should be number 1 by tonight.

What do you get when you couple a Seattle-based cartoonist named Molly Norris decree that May 20th be declared “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!” and Facebook?? Well, over 100,000 fans of both pro and con Facebook Fan pages regarding the idea and a Pakistani court has ordered parts of Facebook be blocked. You can read about it here. All of this seems way too emotional to me. I mean Salmon Rushdie was signing books in New York yesterday despite the fact that Iran still has a death sentence on him. I guess Ms. Norris is hoping this story doesn’t get any bigger.

Given the early returns of our latest poll, I decided I had to do an app review of my favorite app, Tweetie 2 ($2.99). I can’t believe the majority of you are not using Twitter? If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch then you really need to give it a try. Trust me on this and whether you agree or disagree – TRY IT – and give me some comments on this article please. The iPhone and Twitter are like peanut butter and jelly or chocolate and anything. Please, do yourself a favor and take a minute to hear my case ☺ Continue Reading…